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Orlando Cabrera
' ' Orlando Luis Cabrera (born November 2, 1974 in Cartagena, Colombia) is a Major League Baseball shortstop who plays for the Cincinnati Reds. He bats and throws right-handed. He achieved a championship in the 2004 Boston Red Sox season. Cabrera is the younger brother of Jolbert Cabrera, a former Major League outfielder who recently signed a minor league contract with the Cincinnati Reds. Baseball career As a batter, Cabrera is a good fastball line-drive hitter that uses all fields with gap power. While not possessing blazing speed, Cabrera is an intelligent and aggressive base runner and consistent base stealing threat, and he also has the aggressiveness to hustle out numerous doubles and triples. He has above average range to both sides, soft hands and a strong arm. He won the Gold Glove Award in and in . In he led all Major League shortstops with 29 errors, and had the lowest fielding percentage among them (.962). In , he finished second among the league shortstops in batting average (.297), slugging percentage (.415), runs batted in (80), and in stolen base percentage (24-to-26). Beside this, he is one of four Montreal Expos players to have ever played all 162 games in a season, and the first to do it twice. Also, his 17 home runs in that season were the most ever by a shortstop in the Expos history. Cabrera was traded by Montreal to the Boston Red Sox in the summer of , on the last day of the July trading deadline. Cabrera made Boston fans forget their anger over the Garciaparra four-team deal, batting .294 with six home runs and 31 RBI in 58 games. He also brought stability to the shortstop position, which delighted the Red Sox pitchers. The trade, which also netted first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz from the Twins, shored up Boston's infield defense and energized the team, which went 42-19 after the deal to win the American League's wild card (56-45 before the trade). "He is a game-changer in the field for me," Curt Schilling said. Following his 2004 World Series victory with the Red Sox, Cabrera signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Angels organization. Orlando replaced fan favorite David Eckstein at the shortstop position. While it took Angels fans a while to warm up to Cabrera, he eventually became a fan favorite himself after an excellent defensive season in 2005. Cabrera is a career .273 hitter with 97 home runs and 627 RBI in 1411 games. As a shortstop, he has compiled 2107 putouts, 3801 assists, and 131 errors in 6037 total chances, for a .978 fielding percentage. In his first game back to Fenway Park as an Anaheim Angel in June of 2005, Cabrera was greeted with a standing ovation which lasted 30 seconds before he walked to the plate. Red Sox fans continue to give him standing ovations upon each plate appearance at Fenway Park. In 2007, Cabrera led qualified AL shortstops with a .983 fielding percentage and a league-low 11 errors earning him the American League Gold Glove for shortstop. Also, he stole 20 bases for the third straight year and the fifth time overall. On November 19, 2007 he was traded to the Chicago White Sox along with cash considerations for Jon Garland. During the 2009 offseason, Cabrera signed a contract with the Cincinnati Reds for 2010. Highlights * Gold Glove (2001,2007) * Hit a home run on his first at-bat as a Red Sox, becoming the eighth Boston player to accomplish this feat (August 1, 2004) * Won the World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 2004. It was the franchise's first World Series since 1918. * Had a straight steal of home plate on July 2, , the first such time it had happened by an Angels player since . Not only was it a straight steal, but Cabrera scored without a throw. * Had a 63-game on-base streak in early-through-mid 2006, which was among the top five streaks of all time. Ted Williams holds the Major League record with 84 straight games reaching base by a hit, walk, or hit-by-pitch. Related links * NL Gold Glove winners at shortstop * Players from Colombia in MLB * Red Sox Nation External links *AL Gold Gloves show changing of guard MLB.com Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:Colombian baseball players Category:Major league shortstops Category:Montreal Expos players Category:Boston Red Sox players Category:Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim players Category:Chicago White Sox players Category:Gold Glove Award winners Category:Vermont Expos players Category:2004 Boston Red Sox World Series Championship Team Category:Players